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2. books and literature

A Catalogue of Exhibitor Highlights
China in Print 2014
Asia’s leading international fair and exhibition for
RARE BOOKS, MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, & EPHEMERA
Friday 21st November
16.00 – 20.00
Saturday 22nd November 11.00 – 19.00
Sunday 23rd November
11.00 – 16.00
www.chinainprint.com
Special Exhibitions Gallery,
Hong Kong Maritime Museum
Central Ferry Pier No. 8,
Man Kwong Street, Central, Hong Kong
Free Entry
China in Print 2014
Now in its third year, from 21-23 November, China in Print 2014 will bring
together 26 exhibitors from around the world at Hong Kong’s Maritime
Museum.
Here we present stock highlights from our exhibitors, including books, maps,
photography, manuscripts, and ephemera.
The exhibitors are arranged alphabetically.
For further details of any item, please contact the exhibitors directly, using
the details provided at the foot of each page.
ALLSWORTH RARE BOOKS
XUNLING [photographer]. Circa 1903.
Cixi, Empress Dowager of China [1835-1908].
One Silver print photograph, 17.5 x 13 cm.
A very rare survival, a beautiful photograph
of Cixi, by the famous Chinese Court
Photographer Xunling. In the image, Cixi is
enjoying an elegant old age, being almost 70.
Allsworth Rare Books P.O. Box 134 235 Earls Court Road London SW5 9FE, UK
www.allsworthbooks.com [email protected]
ANTIQUARIAT MICHAEL STEINBACH
THOMSON, J[ohn]. Illustrations of China and its people.
A series of two hundred photographs, with letterpress
descriptive of the places and people represented.
London, Sampson Low, Marston, Low, and Searle, 18731874.
First edition of this monumental four-volume
photographic work, recording the diversity of Chinese
culture during the late 19th century in a wealth of
views, portraits, and public scenes. The Scottish
photographer John Thomson (1837-1921), a pioneer of
photojournalism, was one of the first photographers to
travel to the Far East, documenting the people,
landscapes and artefacts of eastern cultures.
Most of the people he encountered had never seen a
westerner or camera before.
A fine set.
Antiquariat Michael Steinbach, Freyung 6/4/6, A – 1010, Vienna, Austria
www.antiquariat-steinbach.com [email protected]
ASIA BOOKROOM
MASON, George Henry. The Costume of China, Illustrated by Sixty Engravings: with
Explanations in English and French. Together in One Volume With: The Punishments of China
Illustrated by Twenty-Two with Explanations in English and French. W. Miller. London. 1800 and
1808.
82 full page hand-coloured stipple engravings in total. The Costume of China: 60 plates. 22
plates. Title pages and prefaces in English and French for both works, one leaf of text for each
plate, recto in English, verso in French, bound in 19th century half leather, marbled paper
covered boards, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers. As is frequently case with copies of this
work, the date of the title page and watermarks on some other leaves are at variance. (See
Abbey 533 for more information). This copy contains a number of leaves bearing watermarked
dates from 1796 to 1817. Some offsetting of plates onto text opposite, frontispiece a little
foxed but otherwise the plates are in very good condition with only some occasional spotting.
Binding is worn in places particularly at corners, recased, decorative gilt leather backstrip laid
down. Quarto.
This beautiful volume contains two separately published works that caught the imagination of
early 19th century Europe. The 82 handsome engravings are of course one of the reasons these
books have been much admired over many years however the accompanying text is also
surprisingly detailed and offers an insight into how China and Chinese people were to be
viewed for many decades to come. The plates depict both the occupations of the people of
China and the punishments meted out to those who transgressed. The original detailed pen
and wash illustrations by Pu Qua were commissioned in Guangzhou by Major Mason while was
spending some months sick leave at the British Factory. Cordier 1858. Abbey 533. Tooley
(English Books with Coloured Plates) 320.
Asia Bookroom, Unit 2, 1 - 3 Lawry Place, Macquarie. ACT 2614. Australia
www.asiabookroom.com [email protected]
BATTLEDORE LTD
1950 Portfolio of Political Propaganda "Ninhua" Prints
NEW YEAR PICTURES. Woodcut Printing, compiled by the New Fine Art Publishing
House. Peking, Printed by Rong Bao Zhai Xin Ji [Jung Pao Chai Hsin Chi],
distributed by the Xin Hua Bookstore, 1950.
Complete Collection of 16 original colored full-page woodblock prints, with added
watercolor, comprising two sets numbered sequentially 1-8 twice, captioned in
English, Russian and Chinese + descriptive foreword (in English and
Russian). Small 4to, [16]ff laid paper, each print measuring 11-5/8 x 8-1/8 inches
(244 x 205 mm) + folded Foreword (9-3/4 x 13-3/8 inches); in blue silk-covered
portfolio with pictorial cover label printed in the three languages, rear cover with
label "Series # 502". Light exterior wear but overall in very good condition.
These woodblock prints were first created and published May 1949 in anticipation
of Chinese liberation and the People's Republic of China (PRC)
(1949.10.1). Traditional woodblock artists adapted their craft by making political
propaganda images, originally captioned only in Chinese for domestic circulation;
this 1950 set reprinted the same designs with bolder colors and are captioned in
three languages intended for export distribution.
Battledore Ltd, P.O. Box 2288, Kingston, NY 12402, USA
www.childlit.com/battledore [email protected]
BERNARD QUARITCH LTD
GONZALEZ DE SAN PEDRO, Francisco. Shengjiao cuoyao 圣教撮要 [A summary of the Holy Teachings].
Fuzhoufu, Meiguitang, 1706.
8vo, ll. [1, recto with the device of the Dominican order within decorated frame; verso with title page], 3,
1, 1, 34; with an additional leaf inserted at head, printed with Latin types on Western paper and
trimmed to a smaller size bearing a Latin version of the index; the body of the work printed with Chinese
types on rice paper, each sheet folded Chinese style; fold-crease to the last pair of leaves worn (no loss),
some scattered foxing, but a very good copy; later wrappers with original title laid on, preserved in
twentieth-century boards covered in pink silk.
First and only edition, extremely rare, of this epitome of the Christian religion, effectively a catechism,
written by the Dominican father Francisco Gonzalez de San Pedro with a preface by Wang Daoxing, a
local degree holder from a family which included several Christian converts.
The Shengjiao cuoyao plays an important role in the Rites Controversy. Its content reflects the
Dominican attitude to Chinese beliefs and lists many of the ‘superstitions’ that had to be abandoned by
Christian converts, for the Dominicans, unlike the Jesuits, were firmly opposed to Confucianism and the
possibility that Chinese converts might continue with various local practices. The work begins with two
sections stressing God’s creation of the world (‘Living beings are not self-created’ and ‘Living being do
not acquire life by chance’) and continues with sections on the Yellow Emperor, Buddha, feng shui or
geomancy, auspicious days, fortune-telling, angels, soul, feeding hungry ghosts, paper money, the end of
the world and the Last Judgment.
The work is extremely rare: only one other copy is known to have survived.
Bernard Quaritch Ltd, 40 South Audley Street, London, W1K 2PR, UK
www.quaritch.com [email protected]
CAVENDISH RARE BOOKS
DU HALDE, Jean-Baptiste.
Description
Géographique, Historique, Chronologique,
Politique et Physique de la Chine et de la
Tartarie Chinoise. Amsterdam 1736.
A superb set in flawless condition of the first
quarto
edition
of
this
monumental
encyclopaedia of European sinophilia. In 18th
century French bindings of mottled calf with
fully gilt spines and marbled endpapers,
complete with 53 engraved plates and city maps
including the plan of Peking and a folding map
of Canton, and 14 engraved vignettes including
a portrait of the K'ang-hsi emperor. Comprising
the reports of the 24 Peking Jesuits in China
from the late 17th century and meant to show
the magnificence of the empire
Cavendish Rare Books, 19 Chesthunte Road, London, N17 7PU, UK
tel/fax: 44 208 808 4595 [email protected]
CHARLOTTE DU RIETZ RARE BOOKS
[OPIUM SMOKER'S PROGRESS]. Jieyan xingshi tu (Pictures to stop
[opium] smoking and awaken the world). Hankou, Shengjiao
Shuju, 1884.
TOGETHER WITH: A set of 12 original black ink drawings by an
artist indentified as "Tai, a Christian Chinaman”.
8vo. Printed in xylography. With title page, followed by a hand
coloured lithographed frontispiece, two leaves of preface, six
leaves with 12 woodcut illustrations and ten leaves of descriptive
text. Chinese text printed on double leaves of Chinese paper,
folded in the oriental manner. First edition compiled by the
Christian religious association and printed at their teaching press
(Shengjiao Shuju). Six volumes of the same work, each
complete in itself but the coloured frontispiece is different in each
volume. As issued in original wrappers with printed titles on
upper covers.
This work about Opium smoking illustrates the gradual decline
and fall of an opium addict. It's most likely based on Hogarth's
"Rake's Progress" which also consisted of a sequence of 12
images. We beleive that a total of 12 different lithographed
frontispieces (of which six are present here) were issued to
accompany the work.
Together with a set of 12 contemporary original black ink
drawings. Mounted on cardboard with ms captions in English.
Size: 11,5 x 28 cm. According to the notes the sketches are
originals by Tai, a Christian Chinaman. They might be the originals
of the woodcut illustrations in the printed work?
Charlotte Du Rietz Rare Books, Sibyllegatan 50A, 114 43 Stockholm, Sweden
www.durietzrarebooks.com [email protected]
DANIEL CROUCH RARE BOOKS
THE ‘VRIENTS’ ATLAS
WITH A LETTER TO
EROTIC PRINTS PAST THE INQUISITION.
ORTELIUS
EXPLAINING HOW TO SMUGGLE HERETIC AND
ORTELIUS, Abraham. Theatro del Mondo di Abrahamo Ortelio: Da lui poco inanzi la
sua morte riueduto, & di tauole nuoue, et commenti adorno & arrichito, con la vita
dell’Autore. Translato in Lingua Toscana dal Sigr. Fillipo Pigafetta. In Anversa, si
vende nella nella libraria plantiniana M.DC.XII. Antwerp, Jan Baptist Vrients 1608
Folio (460 by 290mm). 3 parts in one volume, including the Parergon, engraved
allegorical title, with letterpress title overslip with full-page engraved portrait of
Pope Clement on verso, architectural border to Parergon title, large Plantin device
on Nomenclatur title, engraved dedication, portrait of Ortelius, and 5 diagrams in
the text, 194 engraved maps on 154 mapsheets, 5 double-page plates of
landscapes, all on guards, mostly double-page, FULLY COLOURED BY A
CONTEMPORARY HAND AND MANY HEIGHTENED IN GOLD, numerous woodcut
ornamental initials, some browning and spotting, title, final leaf and 5 early leaves
with margins neatly restored, several small repaired tears, some offsetting.
MANUSCRIPT LETTER TO ORTELIUS FROM THE BOOK SELLER JOANNES
VRYFPENNINCK loosely inserted, seventeenth century Italian red morocco, central
gilt ruled panel with cardinal’s arms at centre and floral cornerpieces, spine gilt in
seven compartments, gauffered gilt edges, spine neatly re-backed, edges restored,
lightly rubbed.
Daniel Crouch Rare Books, 4 Bury Street, St James's, London, SW1Y 6AB, UK
www.crouchrarebooks.com [email protected]
A magnificent example of one of the most complete versions of the first printed
atlas to be so called, sumptuously bound and with glorious full contemporary
colour. The colouring of the present example is particularly fine with careful gold
highlighting to many of the maps, particularly on the cartouche tracery, titles and
decorative detail.
HORDERN HOUSE
Edward ASHWORTH (English architect, 1814-1896). Suite of 15 original watercolours of
Hong Kong, Macao and Canton, 1844-1846.
This series of watercolours of the European enclaves on the South China coast in the mid1840s represents a major discovery. Ashworth’s depictions of Hong Kong in particular were
only previously known from a few lithographs accompanying his important essay “Chinese
Architecture” (London, 1851, as part of the Architectural Publication Society’s “Detached
Essays”; republished in the “Architectural Dictionary” of 1892).
Ashworth spent two years in Hong Kong and Macao from early 1844, returning to England
via Canton in 1846. An architect himself, he was one of the earliest Europeans known to
have built in Hong Kong, arriving just two years after the end of the first Opium war and the
foundation of the colony. His time in the colony witnessed an astonishing transformation
under the second governor Sir John Davis. During Hong Kong’s first building boom the city
dramatically changed shape as new streets were added, often carved into the hillside, while
older ones were erased, and the Chinese and European communities forcibly detached. His
illustrations of these scenes are an invaluable record of old and new.
The nine Hong Kong images represent the earliest significant collection of architectural
views, preceding the Scots architect Murdoch Bruce’s lithographs of a similar theme by
some two years.
Ashworth’s five watercolours of Macao add to the corpus of material explored by previous
European painters such as the Daniells, William Alexander, Auguste Borget and George
Chinnery, although with a greater urbanity and intimacy to the settings since Ashworth
concentrates more on the architecture than the purely picturesque.
A final view depicts the European enclave in Canton, the Thirteen Factories, in a completely
new, extended and partly rebuilt form after a recent arson attack on them in late 1842.
Hordern House Rare Books, 77 Victoria Street, Potts Point, Sydney, NSW 2011, Australia
www.hordern.com [email protected]
JAMES STEERMAN RARE BOOKS
QI BAISHI. Pei-ch'ing Yung-pao-ch'ai shih-chien-p'u (北京榮寶齋詩牋
譜) A Rongbaozhai Book of Poems and Paintings. Beijing, Rong bao
zhai, 1951.
2 volumes in brocade-covered portfolio, with faux ivory claps. Each
volume with (100) color woodblock prints, tie-bound (315 x 225mm).
An album of fabulous fine colored woodcuts after the masterful
Chinese painter Qi Baishi (1864-1957) and others, produced by
artisans under the artists' direction at the newly-collective Rong Bao
Zhai studio in Peking. Without question one of the most superb
Chinese woodblock print books of its era. An extremely early example
containing the full (200) woodblock prints, many examples from this
edition contain just (180) prints. Purchased in China in 1951 by a
European Sinologist and scholar.
James Steerman Rare Books, 57 Market St, Red Hook, NY 12571, New York, USA
www.steerman.com [email protected]
JONKERS RARE BOOKS
"THE FINEST BOOK EVER PRINTED“
[KELMSCOTT PRESS] CHAUCER, Geoffrey THE WORKS OF GEOFFREY CHAUCER Now Newly Imprinted The
Kelmscott Press, 1896.
First edition thus. Folio. Publisher's full white pigskin by the Doves Bindery, binding signed in blind and
dated 1897 on the rear pastedown. The covers are elaborately blind stamped and the original metal
clasps are intact. All edges gilt on the rough. Ornamental woodcut title, 14 large borders, 18 different
frames round the illustrations, 26 initials designed by William Morris and 87 wood cut illustrations
designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones and engraved by W.H. Hooper. Shoulder and side titles printed in red
and the whole printed in two columns in Chaucer type designed by William Morris. A near fine copy, with
a trace of wear to the spine ends and raised bands, but notably clean boards. A well preserved example
of the monumental book.
One of 425 copies on paper from a total edition of 438, and one of approximately 50 copies
commissioned in this binding. Besides the usual binding of holland-backed blue boards, Morris had
originally planned for the Chaucer to have four alternative binding designs in full and half pigskin, to be
executed by the Doves Bindery and the firm of J. J. Leighton, who had produced most of the vellum
bindings for the other Kelmscott Press books. Because of his illness he was only able to complete the
present design, modelled after a combination of South German fifteenth-century bindings, with “many of
the tools were copied directly from bindings in Morris’s library” (Tidcombe, p. 47). The lower cover, whose
final design was probably completed by Cobden-Sanderson, is known to be modelled after a fifteenthcentury binding in Morris’s own library, a 1478 Koberger Bible bound by the Salzburg binder Ulrich
Schreier.
‘Perfect… both in design and in the quality of the printing… the last and the most magnificent, the
Kelmscott Chaucer’ (Printing and the Mind of Man).
Jonkers Rare Books, 24 Hart Street, Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire, RG9 2AU, UK
www.jonkers.co.uk [email protected]
LIBRAIRIE ANCIENNE LES TROIS ISLETS
[ANONYMOUS. 18th Century]. [Chinese erotic scroll. Spring Palace. Chung Gong
Hua.] China, ca. 1750.
1 scroll (193 x 2.500 mm.) composed of 12 painted scenes (ca. 200 mm.). Rice paper
on
stronger
leaves,
the
extremities
of
the
scroll
with
silk.
Very attractive and rare example of 18th century Chinese erotic iconography, known as
painting of the Spring Palace. 11 of these scenes are reproduced in “Erotologie de la
Chine”, by Dr. Woo Chan Cheng, who dated the scroll 18th century, because the white,
composed of lead oxide, turned black (for the first scenes) because of the light.
According to him, this kind of scrolls was pieces of collections and also served for the
education of newly wed couples. Very refined and subtle, the style of the present
paintings matches the main characteristics of the Chinese erotic iconography that
follows models establish during the Ming dynasty. Because this kind of images was first
illustrating literature, even after pictures emancipated from the text, they keep a
narrative value. Here for example, the scroll starts with a chess game: meaningful
scene that reflects the Chinese conception (from Taoism) of sexual relations as a tactic
game. The figures of the characters are thin, the faces delicate, a great is taken of the
details. As often, the scenes happen in unclosed spaces and the representation of
nature echoes the mood of the characters, and catch the spectator eye in a sensible
and symbolic web. Considered as one of the singularities of the Chinese erotic
painting: the voyeur (here a servant) stands at the door. Fine set.
Librairie Ancienne Des Trois Islets, 7, rue du Vieux Clocher, B.P. 20, F-35 800 Saint-Briac-Sur-Mer, France
www.librairie-trois-islets.com [email protected]
LIBRAIRIE ORIENS
BUCHOZ, Pierre Joseph. Collection précieuse et enluminée des
fleurs … qui se cultivent dans les jardins de la Chine [A
collection of flowers grown in China]. Paris, Lacombe [1776].
Extremely rare and one of the most beautiful botanical
books
of
the
18th
Century,
with 100
sublimely decorative, contemporary hand-coloured plates,
with captions in Chinese characters.
Buchoz was the first European to copy the oriental style and
aimed this work not just at naturalists and painters, but also at
porcelain and textile manufacturers. This volume, in which the
highly decorative plates are captioned in Chinese characters, is
devoted to flowers native to China, many featuring birds,
butterflies and insects, with pale blue skies and rocky
backgrounds.
中國花卉圖譜：一百幅印刷水彩图片，1776年巴黎出版 , 長 :45 X 阔
30 公分
Librairie Oriens, 10 Boulevard Arago, 75013 Paris, France
www.oriens.fr [email protected]
LOK MAN RARE BOOKS
MEYRICK, William. A Short Account of the remarkable clock made by
James Cox in the Year 1766 by Order of the East India Company for the
Emperor of China. Printed by Wertheimer, Lea and Co., Finsbury Circus,
London, 1868.
One of three known copies.
One of the most prolific clock and watchmakers of the late seventeenth
century was James Cox. He was commissioned by the East India Company
to produce a pair of elaborate clockwork automata as a gift for the
Qianlong Emperor, following this he sent numerous pieces to China over
the next decade and a half.
This is the rare account of one of the pair, which is now housed at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York [donated as part of the Jack &
Belle Linsky collection], the second piece has never been found.
The shop of James Cox and Son, established in Guangzhou in 1781 to
support the growing demand for their work, was eventually to become the
venerable trading company of Jardine, Matheson & Co.
Lok Man Rare Books, 6 Chancery Lane, Central, Hong Kong
www.lokmanbooks.com [email protected]
MAGGS BROS. LTD.
DIAZ (Antonio). Diccionario de Lengua Mandarina cuyo primer author fue el R. P. Fr.
Francisco Diaz, Religioso Dominico, anadido despues por los RR. PP. desta Mission de
Sancto Domingo.
Transladado, emendadas algunas tonadas conforme a los
Diccionarios chinicos, puestas algunas lettres en las tonadas de otras conforme alos
Diccionarios dichos, y anadidas mas tonadas y letras, todo segun los Diccionarios
chinicos. [China, Fujian prov.], n.d. [but ca. 1705].
Manuscript. Over 6700 Chinese characters with Spanish definitions in black ink within
block-printed pink grids, on a mixture of Chinese and European paper, frequent
corrections mostly on small pasted-in slips. 8vo. 19th century russia gilt by Du Planil.
Preserved in custom-made quarter morocco box. [iii], 199ff.
A very important, unpublished, and apparently unique example of a manuscript
Chinese dictionary prepared by the Dominican missionary Antonio Diaz (1667-1715)
sometime prior to his expulsion from China in 1707. This work is a superb example of
Dominican efforts to study Chinese language availing themselves of the latest
scholarship. This challenges the widely held belief that they had little interest in
communicating with the higher classes. This dictionary written on Chinese paper in
China is a monument to early links between China and the West and it precedes the
first printed Western dictionary by roughly 100 years.
Maggs Bros Ltd, 50 Berkeley Square, London, W1J 5BA, UK
www.maggs.com [email protected]
MEDA RIQUIER RARE BOOKS LTD
ARCHIMEDES. Opera omnia. [THE COMPLETE WORKS]. Basel, Johann Herwagen, March 1544.
One folio book (312 x 213 mm.), bound in contemporary vellum. Printed in Greek. Near-perfect
condition.
Editio princeps of Archimedes in Greek as well as the first complete printing of Archimedes in
Latin. ‘Archimedes is by universal consent the greatest mathematician of Antiquity and one of the
greatest mathematicians and physicists of all time. Among his contributions were a method for
calculating centers of gravity, an approximation of the value of and a system for expressing very
large numbers. He demonstrated theorems relating to areas and volumes of figures bounded by
curved lines and surfaces, showed how mechanical problems could be solved through geometrical
analysis, and made considerable use of proof by the "method of exhaustion", a fore-runner of the
calculus. In addition, he is credited with a number of mechanical inventions, such as the water
screw, the compound pulley, and various ballistic devices used in the effort to defend the city of
Syracuse against attack by the Roman army, a siege in which Archimedes himself perished. His
discovery of the principle of specific gravity, when he observed the water displaced by his body in
the bath, is celebrated in the well-known story of his running naked through the streets shouting
"Eureka". The publication of the present edition marked a decisive step forward in the history of
mathematics in that it made Archimedes' knowledge and sophisticated techniques readily
available for study, providing a foundation on which Galileo, Kepler, Newton and others could
build. The present edition includes Archimedes' works On the sphere and the cylinder, On the
measurement of the circle, On conoids and spheroids, On spirals, On the equilibrium of planes,
The sand-reckoner, and On the quadrature of the parabola’ (PMM).
Horblit 5; Dibner 137; Stillwell 140; PMM 72. Smith, Rara, 226-228; Hoffmann I, 228.
Meda Riquier Rare Books Ltd., 4 Bury Street, St James’s, London, SW1Y 6AB, UK
www.medariquier.com [email protected]
OLDIMPRINTS.COM
A Map and History of Peiping. Peiyang Press. Tientsin /
Peiping.
1936.
Color lithographic map, 88 x 76cm, housed in the back of
the twenty-two page explanatory booklet, with decorative
slip case.
This richly colored lithographic map by Frank Dorn is an
outstanding, highly sought-after example of the pictorial
map genre. Pictographs show major sites of what is now
Beijing as it was pre-World War II, with humorous sketches
illustrating the life of the capital.
Oldimprints.com, 2732 S.E. Woodward Street, Portland, Oregon 97202, USA
www.oldimprints.com [email protected]
PABLO BUTCHER
Pablo Butcher will be exhibiting a selection of
rare books and photograph albums exploring
Chinese and Asian themes and culture;
plus a scarce suite of Admiralty Charts, circa
1850, tracing the entire Eastern Coast of China
and parts of The China Sea to the south.
A collection of French, Dutch and English
Maritime Charts will map details of Indonesia and
its environs.
Pablo Butcher, Overy Mill, Dorchester on Thames, Oxford, OX10 7JU, UK
www.pablobutcher.fr [email protected]
PETER HARRINGTON RARE BOOKS
TOLKIEN, J. R. R. The Hobbit or There and Back Again. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1937
Octavo. Original green cloth, spine and covers blocked in black, top edge green, map endpapers printed in
black and red. With the dust jacket. Housed in a custom box within an elaborate tan morocco-backed
slipcase, with gilt lettering and leather onlays to the spine. Frontispiece and 9 full-page uncoloured
illustrations after drawings by the author. Bookplate to first blank. Cloth a little faded to the edges,
otherwise a very good copy in a brighter than usual jacket that has some nicks to the extremities, a touch
of black ink at the upper edge of the front fold, and a little paper restoration to the top edge.
First edition, first impression, first issue jacket with the hand-correction to “Dodgeson” on the rear inside
flap. The first edition was published on 21 September 1937 and the first impression of 1,500 copies was
sold out by December.
TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings [comprising: The Fellowship of the Ring; The Two Towers; The Return
of the King.]London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1954–55
3 volumes, octavo. Original red cloth, titles to spines gilt, top edges stained red. With the dust jackets. A
superb set in the uncommonly nice dust jackets lightly and evenly faded at the spines. A really pretty set.
First editions, first impressions. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of the most influential literary works of
the century.
The first editions are now increasingly scarce in the original dust wrappers.
Peter Harrington Rare Books, 100 Fulham Road, Chelsea, London, SW3 6HS
www.peterharrington.co.uk [email protected]
RULON-MILLER BOOKS
Gutzlaff, Karl Friedrich August [愛漢者 Aihanzhe]. 全人矩矱 Quanren juhuo [The perfect man's
model]. Singapore: 堅夏書院藏板 Jianxia shuyuan cangban, 1836.
8vo (23.5 cm.), pp. [62] (i.e. title page plus five sections, each with separate pagination: 6, 5, 6, 6, 7
double-sided leaves, for a total of 60 pages); xylographically printed; title page printed on yellow
paper; original plain paper wrappers; fine. With several holograph corrections in the text, possibly
authorial.
A religious tract, translated roughly as "The perfect man’s model….treatise on the teachings of the
Holy Scripture, in 5 books, on unfeigned virtue, spiritual instruction, the Saviour, explanation of the
law, theory of prayer, and the doctrine of Jesus true and self-evident" by a Protestant missionary,
Karl Gutzlaff, a fascinating character, typical of the sort of opportunist who clustered around the
opium business in the old China Trade.
In the 1830s he traveled as a translator on a British opium sailing vessel, known as a "country ship"
illegally selling opium for Jardine, Matheson & Co. down the coast of China. Gutzlaff justified his
complicity with the rationalization that the journey would be a good opportunity to preach the
gospel and distribute religious tracts printed in Chinese. His moral flaws aside, Gutzlaff was a
smart and lucid observer whose writings offer excellent detail about China and the China Trade in
the days leading up to the first opium war. In his later days he opened a school for native Chinese
missionaries, several of whom turned out to be opium addicts who used their missionary cover
and funding for illicit purposes. The fraud exposed, Gutzlaff died a ruined man.
Rulon-Miller Books, 400 Summit Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55102-2662, USA
www.rulon.com [email protected]
SHAPERO RARE BOOKS
HEATH, Leopold. Views of Hong Kong Island and Vicinity. London, by the Hydrographic Office c. 1847.
ONE OF THE EARLIEST AND FINEST PANORAMIC VIEWS OF HONG KONG, SHOWING THE WHOLE OF THE ISLAND FROM ANCHORAGE. Three sheets, each measuring
In 1843 Leopold Heath (later Admiral Sir Leopold) was appointed Gunnery Lieuenant of HMS Iris commanded by Captain George Rodney Mundy.
On one of his visits to Hong Kong in 1846 he drew a view of the harbour as seen from his ship. This series was seen by the Hydrographic Office to
be of a good standard and was published in 1847 as a set of three black and white prints selling for three shillings. These supplemented the chart
made from the first British survey of Hong Kong harbour by Commander (later Captain Sir Edward) Belcher RN, who had landed on the island in
1841, just in advance of the naval squadron arriving to take formal possession of the Colony.
Shapero Rare Books, 32 St George St, London, W1S 2EA, UK
www.shapero.com [email protected]
SOPHIE SCHNEIDEMAN
KELMSCOTT PRESS. MORRIS, William. The Tale of The Emperor Coustans
and of Over Sea. Hammersmith, Kelmscott Press, 1894.
One of 500 copies printed on paper, in black and red in Chaucer type by
William Morris at his Kelmscott Press. Small 8vo, at the beginning of the
nineteenth century by Riviere in extremely attractive full green morocco
covered in floral tooling in gilt on both sides with onlaid brown morocco
borders and gilt lettering on spine and upper cover, spine in
compartments, decorated in gilt with raised bands, top edge gilt, others
uncut, signed by Riviere & Son in gilt on upper turn-in, marbled endpapers.
Internally the book is a very clean, uncut copy.
This tale of love, faith and chivalry was translated by Morris from the
medieval French text. A very elegant copy. Petersen A26
The Schneideman Gallery, 331, Portobello Road, London, W10 5SA, UK
www.ssrbooks.com [email protected]
WATTIS FINE ART
Commodore’s Log, HMS Sibylle, 1855-1857, manuscript in bound, proforma
logbook.
This manuscript log book was kept for Captain the Hon. Charles Gilbert John
Brydone Elliot RN in 1855 to 1857 during the run up to the 2nd Opium War, whilst
he was Commodore of a detached squadron, including the steamers HM Ships
Barracouta and Hornet and the old frigate Pique, charged, in concert with a French
squadron, ‘to intercept the Russians’.
Despite many pages being devoted to the Sybille’s voyage north to Japan and
Sakhalin in 1855-56 and to her sojourns in Whampoa, much of the logbook relates
day-to-day life in Victoria Harbour, where the Sybille would have been anchored
between the Hong Kong Maritime Museum and the Hong Kong Convention and
Exhibition Centre.
Whilst not the full ship’s log, being only the Commodore’s private record, this
fascinating document contains sufficient detail in its daily entries for us to follow
the Sybille and her consorts on their peregrinations. The bare narrative of ship’s
events, however, reveals little of the lands visited. For example we are told almost
nothing of the detail of the visit to Hakodate on Hokkaido, at a time when the
suppression of the indigenous Ainu people was not yet complete.
The log provides a detailed grasp of the routine tedium of life in a man of war
come wind, come weather. And it shows graphically how little like the great setpiece 19th and 20th century wars familiar from history books the two Anglo-Chinese
wars were. Whilst shots were being vigorously exchanged two miles upriver, in
Whampoa life went on as normal and the Sybille embarked and disembarked her
Chinese pilots Ashing and Aping as the need arose.
Wattis Fine Art, 2/F 20 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong
www.wattis.com.hk [email protected]
AND
LIBRAIRIE ALAIN BRIEUX
Librairie Alain Brieux, 48, rue Jacob - 75006 Paris, France
www.alainbrieux.com [email protected]
LIBRAIRIE ANCIENNE INDOSIAM
Librairie Ancienne INDOSIAM, 89 Hollywood Road, Apt A 1/F, Central, Hong Kong
www.livre-rare-book.com/c/b/indosiam [email protected]
YUSHODO
Yushodo Co. Ltd., 27 Sakamachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0002, Japan
www.yushodo.co.jp [email protected]